An Open Letter To Maine, New Hampshire, & Massachusetts Truckers

As a kid growing up in Maine’s Aroostook County, I was around tractor-trailer trucks from the time I was in diapers.  My father was an owner-operator in the trucking business.  Later, I was friends with drivers.  And, while I was on summer break from college, I worked as an escort driver for a company that moved mobile homes and manufactured homes.

Even though I have no desire to get in the driver’s seat of a big rig (I probably would not be able to see over the steering wheel or reach the pedals, anyway), I have a great respect for the men and women who drive those 18-wheelers.

We owe our way of life to those tractor-trailers and their drivers.  Without them, we would not have gas for our cards, food in the stores and restaurants, medical supplies, computers, new phones, fertilizer for farms, chemicals that keep our water drinkable, and millions of other products.  And, considering major music tours require over a dozen tractor-trailers, we’d have no music tours.  It would end up being a handful of musicians with a couple of amps.

Recently, I have seen a lot of anger directed toward drivers on social media.  We’ve all heard the story of the driver who was allegedly watching Netflix when he ran into a car, killing a couple from Falmouth.  And, most of us have heard about people having cringe-worthy encounters that nearly ended in an accident with trucks on our highways.

People are often quick to make snap judgements when they hear these stories.  They rant and rave on social media, trying to get people fired up.

Personally, I have found that in at least some of these cases people just do not understand how massive these trucks are.  They ride in these trucks’ blind spots and then wonder why they almost got taken out.  Or, they slam on their brakes in front of a truck, expecting the multi-ton monster to be able to stop on a dime.

So, to the truckers, I saw “thank you”.

To the people driving passenger vehicles, I ask that you share the road an give the trucks the space they need.